Shaping Heath Behaviours Flashcards
What is health behaviour?
Can refer to behaviours that are beneficial to health
Health impairing habits
Behavioural pathogens
Health protective behaviours
Behavioural immunogens
3 key approaches to health beliefs
Risk perception
Motivation and self determination theory
Self-efficacy
Summary of risk perception
Unrealistic optimism - lack of experience with the problem, problem is preventable by individual action, if problem hasn’t appeared it will never, the problem is infrequent
Risk compensation - competing desires and motivations
Self-affirmation - the processing of risk information in ways that enable them to continue their unhealthy behaviour
Summary of motivation and self-determination theory
Accepted that an individual needs to be motivate to either start a new behaviour or change an existing one.
Self-determination theory focuses on motives that regulate behaviour and distinguish between the two kinds of motivation
Summary of self-efficacy
The belief in one’s capabilities to organise and execute the sources of action required to manage prospective situations.
3 theories of change
Health locus of control (HLOC)
Health belief model (HBM)
The theory of planned behaviour (TPB) model
What is the health belief model (HBM)
One of the best known models which explores the functions of beliefs in decision making.
The HBM proposes that when individuals consider changing their behaviour they engage in a cost/benefit analysis of the situation. This includes:
- their susceptibility to health threat
- the perceived severity of that threat
- the perceived value of changing the behaviour in question
What is the health locus of control (HLOC)
Measures the extent to which individuals believe that their health is influence by their own behaviour or by external causes. It is a multidimensional concept: internal HLOC, powerful others HLOC, chance HLOC
E.g. for periodontal health, what is internal HLOC
People with a high internal HLOC would believe that their gum health is largely determined by their own ability and skill to effectively remove their own plaque.
E.g., periodontal health, what is powerful others HLOC
People with high powerful others HLOC would believe that to maintain their gum health, dentists and hygienists are important. These people would therefore believe regular visits to dentists are important for the prevention of periodontal disease.
E.g., periodontal health, what is chance HLOC
People who score high on chance HLOC would be likely to believe that their gum health was determined by chance, and that they could do little to influence the disease process.
